


Out Waltzing With The Holy Ghost

by Corvin



Category: Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Genre: F/M, Fem!John - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-22
Updated: 2014-05-22
Packaged: 2018-01-26 04:14:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1674335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Corvin/pseuds/Corvin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John gets dragged into situations, and Lex Luthor pissed off the wrong people.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Out Waltzing With The Holy Ghost

**Author's Note:**

  * For [QuiteBizarre](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=QuiteBizarre).



> Yo, this is gratuitous self-indulgence on my end, so don't expect anything great.

John was a beat cop en route to the nearest coffee shop to get a caffeine fix to hold her through the rest of her shift. So it wouldn’t really make sense to say she was minding her own business. However, it _was_ an innocuous Thursday night with little crime to speak of. Gotham had a blessed tendency to calm down while the big guy, Superman, came to visit. Ergo, there she was, as close to minding her own business as an on duty beat cop could be, when she was suddenly dragged into a dark alley and thrown against the wall.

 

The impact left her dazed while efficient hands rid her of her gun and nightstick; then she was lifted and thrown over a large shoulder. At that point she guessed the identity of her kidnapper. Gotham had no shortage of overly large villains, but there was a certain man whom John was very familiar with.

 

It had only been her second night out on the streets when she and several others had been held hostage by Bane and his cartel. Incidentally that had been the night she made the personal acquaintance of Batman.

 

John gripped the back of Bane’s tight shirt as the space between her and the ground continued to widen.

 

She couldn’t really guess Bane’s modus operandi beyond maybe a hostage situation. But it seemed a little strange that he would single out a single rookie out of all the valuable people in Gotham. Sure she’d managed to work her way into his strange, makeshift family, but it wasn’t as though Batman wouldn’t show up for any of them, same as her.

 

They got to the top of the roof and Bane tossed her onto the loose gravel. Not ‘softly’ but he definitely threw her with mindfulness.

 

John scrambled to her feet. It was darker on the roof than she would have liked. Even if there wasn’t anything she could do to defend herself against it, she still preferred to keep him in her line of sight.

 

He remained silent while John warily regarded him. The collar of his coat was turned up, making his shoulders an even more hulking silhouette against the purple sky of Gotham. His eyes glittered, even with the small amount of light, and John had to suppress the urge to take a step back. When Bane first appeared he nearly destroyed Batman and Gotham both. Now he worked on a less grand scale, but his presence still inspired terror.

 

Everything about his spoke of a predator, but his build to his reflexes to his ridiculous intelligence. Hell, even his recently acquired black and white luchador mask was menacing against all odds.

 

John gulped, and balled her hands into fists, ready for a spectacularly one-sided fight. “Are you going to kill me?”

 

Bane smirked at her fear and took a step closer. “No, I require something else from you, **pajarita**.”

 

He grabbed the scruff of her jacket and started dragged her across the dark roof. John tensed but shuffled her feet to keep up. She didn’t know what ‘pajarita’ meant but considering he was from Santa Prisca, it was probably Spanish.

 

John had taken French in high school thanks to a brief obsession with Audrey Hepburn in the role of Sabrina. She wrinkled her nose and said brokenly, “ _qu'est ce se_?”

 

Bane glanced down at her and launched into a short diatribe in perfect (sounding) French.

 

“No,stop, just stop.” John huffed. Of course he spoke French too, why shouldn’t he? “I don’t actually—er. Are you kidnapping me?”

 

“No.” Bane jerked her around a large vent and pointed to a spot of light.

 

John could just make out the feet of a crumpled figure in the shadows. She frowned, hand already towards her phone when she realized who exactly she was looking at. With a sharp cry John dashed away from Bane and slid to her knees beside an unconscious Superman.

 

“What happened?” She demanded as she checked his pulse and breathing. She’d never physically touched Superman before, but she was sure he wasn’t normally so clammy. Small tremors shook his body, and he groaned softly when she tapped his collarbone. If she wasn’t sitting next to him on the ground she wouldn’t believe he could even be in this state.

 

“He and I had an altercation. I won.”

 

John gaped over her shoulder. “I… You beat _Superman_? In a fist fight?!”

 

Bane came to crouch next to her. He held out his hand and the knuckles of his gloves started to twinkle. John blinked, but then Superman began to writhe.

 

“Kryptonite,” Bane said.

 

“Oh God,” John pushed at his hand frantically. “Get away from him then, _Jesus._ ”

 

Bane stepped back and Superman began to calm again. “Lex Luthor had these gloves sent to me three days ago. I doubt it was a coincidence that Superman found me.”

 

Oh, well shit. If there was one thing Gotham didn’t need it was a dead superhero in the streets. “I can’t believe he went so far as trying to get you to kill him.”

 

“Nor I,” Bane growled; probably because Luthor tried to trick him into killing Superman instead of hiring him. “I had assumed they were lovers.” 

 

John gagged a little and shook her head to get rid of the thought. “I don’t even want to try and speculate the nature of their relationship.” Though she doubted ‘love’ was any part of it. She paused; “Wait. Did you bring me up here to save him?”

 

Bane nodded.

 

Rather than dwell on that though, John fired a quick text to Dick’s phone. Batman would be able to do way more than the paramedics. She stared up at Bane thoughtfully. There were too many questions racing through her mind for her to pick one to ask. Why would he save Superman’s life? Why would he grab John to help save him?

 

John shook her head when her phone buzzed, telling her that Batman and a couple of his Robins were en route. She cleared her throat. “Uh, thanks I guess.”

 

Bane shrugged his huge shoulders and looked away. “There is no need to thank me. I have no doubt the Justice League would begin a manhunt for me if their alien were to die at my hands. Currently it would be…bad for business.”

 

That sounded ominous and like something she should look into later. For the moment John nodded. “Thanks all the same, even if I don’t get why you snatched _me_ up.”

 

Bane tilted his head to the side and smirked. “You are the Batman’s pet, who best to contact him?”

 

John bristled. That wasn’t wrong per se, but she wasn’t Batman’s pet. “You don’t have to sound so derisive,” she grumbled.

 

The eyebrow that he raised in return was no less derisive. “See that he doesn’t die.”

 

“Right,” John snorted. “Protect and serve.”

 

She looked down when Superman shivered again. God she hoped he’d last until Batman got there. She couldn’t understand why he was still suffering. Maybe some residue got embedded in his skin? John never really understood whole that whole thing worked. In fact, she couldn’t understand why Superman’s standard costume wasn’t kryptonite proof.

 

Bane was gone when she looked back up. John rolled her eyes, for enemies he and Batman sure had a lot in common.

 

 

-.-2-.-

 

 

John couldn’t remember the last time she had a full weekend off. Before constantly working overtime, she was at the academy doing extra studying. Before that she…didn’t have anywhere to go. John had gone from foster home to foster home, until she aged out of the system and into the academy.

 

Often as she was called a ‘hot head’ she was kind of a boring person. Hell, she was even bored with herself.

 

She’d planned to spend three days globbing on her couch between jogging trips to the park. It was a godsend when Bruce called on Saturday evening and asked if she’d like to go to dinner. Then he had explained that Lex Luthor was going to be dining at the Iceberg Lounge.

 

The entire league had a bone to pick with Luthor over what was assumed to be his attempt at Superman’s life. But none more than Batman, who’d spent hours poring over his computer and at Superman’s bedside, fighting to keep the Kryptonian alive. They had no real evidence other than Bane’s word, and that wouldn’t exactly hold up in court.

 

So John donned one of the few dresses she owned, a little black thing with a boat neck, and met Bruce downtown.

 

She couldn’t think of a legal reason for Luthor to be in Gotham, which was probably why Bruce had all his kids plus backup (her) following him to the city’s most expensive restaurant.

 

Cameras flashed in her face when Bruce draped his arm across her waist. No doubt there were going to be rumors flying before they even looked at the wine list. John had expected this, but her stomach still turned a little. She preferred a life out of the spotlight, away from judgmental eyes and malicious whispers. How did Bruce do it?

 

Anyway, it had to take a backseat to keeping an eye on Luthor. Besides, John thought to herself as Bruce pulled out her chair, what could go wrong?

 

-.-.-.-

 

 _Everything_ , John thought to herself as she was hefted over a familiar shoulder. Everything could go wrong; John could get drunk/drugged, things could explode, Bruce, Dick, and Barbara could disappear to do their hero thing, and finally the Secret Six could show up. It was amazing that Lex Luthor wasn’t dead with all the people he managed to piss off.

 

In all the chaos John had stumbled into the kitchen, only to find it on fire. She’d been dazed, strangely giddy, and unable to breathe in all the smoke. She wanted to tell herself that Batman would have found her, but he wasn’t the one who found her slumped on the floor on the verge of suffocating.

 

“I’m not pleased with the fact that you know where I live.” She grumbled against Bane’s back.

 

He ignored her and went inside

 

Bane didn’t bother turning on the lights. He maneuvered easily through the apartment and back towards her bedroom.

 

“Wait, bring my phone with us, I want to order pizza.” She reached out lazily towards the kitchen area, but Bane just kept walking.

 

“Seriously,” John kicked helplessly, but she already knew from experience that she was basically a ragdoll in his arms. “I have needs.”

 

“You don’t need pizza.”

 

John was unsuccessful in pushing her torso up to glare at his face. She settled for the scars on the back of his neck. “I _need_ you to get off my ass.”

 

Bane tossed her down on the bed, smirking at her squawking. He knelt down once she was done flailing and pulled off her boots.

 

“I would expect Bruce Wayne to take better care of his companions.” He said once he was done. He didn’t look at her when he spoke, but seemed very interested in tugging her extra blanket off the edge of her bed. “Or at least, Batman to watch his pet.”

 

John laughed uproariously.

 

“I have no idea why you’d think that.” She guffawed. “I’m nothing special.”

 

She stretched out her leg until her foot touched Bane’s thigh. She grinned and pinched him with her toes. “Don’t worry though. This is still only the third worst date I’ve been on.”

 

Bane dropped the blanket on her face and stepped away from the bed.

 

“Seriously!” John struggled to make her limbs behave, but she wrestled the blanket off her face so she could look at Bane’s retreating back. “I have no idea why you helped me, and aren’t doing villain stuff to me, but thanks.”

 

Bane paused in the doorway. The small light from her window left him mostly in shadows, and he was quiet for so long that John was starting to think she was just imagining him. But then he said, “how many ‘dates’ have you been on?”

 

John flushed so hard and so quickly she was afraid she might actually bruise. “How about you mind your own damn business?” She snarled.

 

“Is it less than five?” Bane asked with a quiet laugh in his voice. Then he left, John’s alarm clock flying after him.


End file.
